In the course of discussions with the civic elders, Carnegie offered another £5,000, so long as the city would adopt the Library Act – that is, levy a tax rate to support a new library. The council readily agreed, and in 1884 Dunfermline opened the first of what would become 3,000 Carnegie libraries.

Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile Hist…, loc. 704